After reading the subscribers' letters about "Senior Drivers of Rental Cars" (Dec. '18, pg. 38 & Jan. '19, pg. 32), I decided to add my 2¢.
I'll be turning 86 in April 2019. In September 2018, I returned to Austria for the 10th time since 1988. I rented a car from Hertz because I received a 20% discount card from Marriott Corporation; my wife and I are timeshare owners with Marriott Vacation Club.
I read the readers' letters about "Managing Things at Home During an Extended Trip" (Feb. '19, pg. 32 & March '19, pg. 36). You don't have to be away for an extended period for things to become a problem at home.
Early one winter morning a few years ago, I awoke to the sound of water gushing in the basement. A pipe through the siding from the basement to an outside faucet had frozen and burst.
Mark Gallo's article "Traveling ultralight" (Feb. '19, pg. 43) is the type of packing I do anytime I go on a trip (unless my wife is along, and then we have to have a checked bag). I use a different approach, however, in that I don't wash my own clothes on the road.
I've found that laundry places are ubiquitous and cheap in the areas where I travel, which is Latin America and Southeast Asia. On a recent trip to Cozumel, Mexico, I paid MXN35 (about $1.80) for a kilo of laundry, washed and folded.
Richard Buehler of Oroville, California, wrote, "Over the years, many ITN subscribers have mentioned guides and drivers local to destinations outside of the US. I would like to know about websites that list private guides and drivers, either throughout the world or in specific areas. I am aware of Toursbylocals.com, but what are other resources?"
More than 40 Indian soldiers were killed in the Pulwama district of India-administered Kashmir on Feb. 14 when a car filled with explosives struck their bus. Islamist militant group Jaish-e Mohammad, based in neighboring Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.
On Feb. 18, nine people, including four soldiers and one civilian, were killed when Indian armed forces engaged in a gun battle with militants in Pulwama.
A fire swept through the historic district of Chawkbazar in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Feb. 21, killing at least 78 people. The fire started in a mixed-use building with a chemical storage unit on the ground floor. The chemicals, along with residents' cooking-gas canisters, caused the fire to spread quickly. The 400-year-old district is made up of closely packed houses on narrow streets, which hindered attempts to extinguish the fire.
On Feb. 27, a passenger train struck a buffer stop at a platform in Cairo's Ramses Station, the main train station in the city, and burst into flames, killing at least 25 people and injuring 50. The fire spread to nearby buildings before being extinguished.
Authorities arrested the train's engineer, accusing him of leaving the train without first setting the brakes. The engineer claims that the brakes were set before he left but failed due to corrosion.
Antigovernment protests in Venezuela, which began on Jan. 23, continued through February. The protests were supported by National Assembly and opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who has declared himself president and called for new elections, saying that Venezuela's last election, which acting president Nicolás Maduro won, was fraudulent. Guaidó is supported by the US, EU, and most South American countries.
Protests against price increases in France that began in November 2018 continued through February. The protesters, known as "yellow vests" due to their wearing reflective vests, have gathered in cities across the country in the tens of thousands, including in Paris, Marseille and Lyon.
Protests have occasionally become violent. On Feb. 11 in Paris, a protester lost fingers when he picked up a nonlethal grenade filled with plastic pellets and it exploded in his hand.
Protests calling for the resignation of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse and key members of the government have been ongoing in Haiti since Feb. 7. At least four people have been killed, with dozens injured, in clashes between protesters and police.
Protesters accuse the government of corruption, particularly the misappropriation of money loaned by Venezuela in 2008 for improving conditions on the island.